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About Geography

Interested in learning more about events at UK Geography?
Join GEOUPDATES -- a listserv where you can share and make announcements with members of the Geography community. Questions? Contact the Department Manager.

History

Well before the establishment of the department in 1944, geography courses on Physiography, Elements of Geography, Economic Geography, Conservation of Natural Resources, Land Problems, Geography of North America, and Geographic Basis of American History were offered since 1923 in departments of Geology, Economics, History, and Agriculture.

Inclusivity Statement

The University of Kentucky Department of Geography is committed to providing an open, accessible, and supportive learning climate*. We understand that each member of the community (students, faculty, postdocs, and staff) have distinct but equally important roles. As a community, we respect the humanity, dignity, individuality, and freedom of each member, and their distinct contributions to our community. We strive to be a place where individuals and groups learn with and from each other, and we acknowledge that learning may sometimes--if not often--be difficult and uncomfortable. Acceptance flows from a common ground, based on a belief in the acceptance of individuals as human beings. Acceptance of the person is different from acceptance of their viewpoint/agenda. This includes the belief in people’s ability to determine who they shall become (self-determination), their protection from injury, affordance of their equality of opportunity (e.g., access to education, healthcare, food, housing and information about their basic rights), protection of their privacy and well-being, and acknowledgement for their work, through recognition or economic compensation. Read more, here.

Lexington Environs

Central Kentucky's spectacular “natural” environment was deemed to offer unlimited potential for farming and development by eighteenth century explorers and surveyors. By the 1840s travelers visiting the region wrote glowing reports describing the beauty of the rural countryside farms and Lexington’s business and residential districts. It was called the "Athens of the West" and today is the principal city of the Bluegrass Region.

University Campus

The Geography Department is located on the 8th floor of the Patterson Office Tower and in Miller Hall. Class is usually held in the Whitehall Classroom Building. Within a short walk are numerous computing labs, libraries, and lounges.